Method of making hosiery



Aug. 10, 1937. RE DAVIS 2,089,879

METHOD OF MAKING HOSIERY Filed June 3, 1936 Z77 vezvr- Patented Aug. 10,i937 UNir o stares PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MAKING HOSIERY Robert E.Davis, Fort Payne, Ala., assignor to W; B. Davis & Son, Inc., FortPayne, Ala., a corporation of Alabama Application June a, 1936, SerialNo. 83,343

IClaim. (01. 66-9) This application is a companion to my applil In thedrawing:

Fig. 1 is a view showing a mans half hose containing my novel top.

Fig. 2 is a detail view of a position of the top showing the knittedstitches. Fig. 3 is a detail view in cross section of a portion of acourse distended; and

Fig. 4 is a detail view in cross section of the same portion of a coursecontracted. I It has been customary in providing garter top socks orstockings to inlay a rubber yarn or an elastic yarn or thread, known inthe trade as rubber or Lastex which maybe covered with a textile yarnwrapping or may be uncovered, in successive rib courses on a single feedribber. for a number of courses, the number being relatively fewincomparison to the number of courses in the entire normal rib top. Thisrubber is usually placed near the upper edge of the top and extends forabout a half to three quarters of an inch. It has been customary to makethe socks of less than their usual normal length in the leg, as with anormal length sock, the rubber insert provided would be positioned nearthe calf of the leg of the wearer and the insert was not ef- 5 fectiveat this point. Accordingly. the socks were made shorter in the leg sothat the garter insert would be efiective, on a narrower portion of theleg, in retaining the sock in position. Such short length socks areobjectionable in that when the 40 wearer crosses his legs the uncoveredportion of his leg above the short sock is usually brought into view,beneath the trouser legs. Furthermore, the garter effect, produced byplacing the inlay in successive rib courses for a short distance, is tootight and binds the leg. Again it stretches less than the remainder ofthe rib top in which no rubber is incorporated. Apparently this cannotbe overcome by placing less initial tension upon the rubber yarn, asthen it extends in an unsightly manner from and between the wales of therib top.

I have overcome the above objections and have provided a normal lengthsock or stocking in which there is an all over elastic garter efiect 56in the rib top without the garter being too tight.

This is done by using a larger diameter machine than normally and byusing in the larger diameter machine the same number of needles as inthe previously used smaller diameter machine, the needles in the largermachine being spaced apart further than in the smaller machine. In addi-5 tion the treatment of the tension on the rubber yarn is reversed, thatis instead of trying to lay the rubber in with as little tension aspossible, a great deal of tension is placed upon the rubber 10 yarn sothat when the same contracts after the knitting it tends to and doescontract the fabric made on the larger diameter machine to a diameterthe same or substantially the same as that normally made upon thesmaller diameter mal5 chine. The resultant ribtop then has a diameterthe same as though it had been made upon the smaller diameter machineand has the same number of wales as there were in the top produced onthe latter machine. This larger diameter machine has a plurality offeeds and the rubber is inlaid at one feed. In this way there is a softstretch to the rubber yarn. I can if I desire make the sock of less ormore than normal length when it is necessary for any purpose. It isunderstood that my invention relates to the rib top and that the samemay be used upon any type of stocking, hose or sock or that the same maybe used in any manner in which a rib top or like fabric may be used. 30

In Fig. 1 at I is shown a mans half hose having my novel top 2 thereon.It will be seen that the rubber yarn 3 extends spirally throughout thetop 2 being anchored at points 4 and 5 in a manner to be described.

In Fig. 2 the detail of the stitches shows that the top is made oftextile yarns 6, I, and 8 each fed at a separate feed on a three feedribber. The knitting is done on a three course spiral. Following thefeed at which one of the three textile yarns is knitted say the yarn 6,the rubber yarn 3 is laid in in the usual manner over the verge of theneedle cylinder and below the dial between the cylinder or plainstitches in wales 9 and I0 and the dial or rib stitches in wales ll 45and I2. The knitting continues as shown in Fig. 2 with the rubber yarnbeing inlaid for the entire rib top including the welt and loose course.The knitting is preferably done with a loose stitch to allow for thetension on the rubber. 50

The rib tops are made in the usual manner. that is continuous with apull thread selvage welt and this welt is made on one of the threefeeds, preferably the one at which the rubber yarn is inlaid so thatduring the making of the welt the tuck stitches will secure or anchorthe rubber. When the successive tops are separated from each other inthe usual way, the rubber is cut above the point i. The rubber yarn isconstantly fed and continues being inlaid in the loose course as well asin the welt.

The diameter of the machine used in making the top is larger than thatused normally for making a top of similar size. By way of illustrationlet us take a half .hose having 220 wales in the leg thereof which isknit on a 220 needle footer. The rib top which is transferred to such amachine for such a half hose has 220 wales therein, 110 being plainwales alternatingwith 110 rib wales. :The usual rib machine for makingthis rib top is of three and a half inch diameter and contains 110needles each in the cylinder and dial. The three and a' half inch ribberis practically a standard "size for mens hose tops. However I use a fiveand a half inch diameter ribber with 110 needles in the cylinder anddial each, making atotal of 220 needles. The spacing between the needlesis obviously greater than the spacing between the needles on the threeand a half inch machine; The needles used on the larger machine are ofpractically the same gauge as those on the small er machine. Obviouslywith the same gauge needles and the same number of them the fabric madeon the larger machine will have a greater diameter without the action ofthe rubber. The rubber is fed underhigh tension so that it contracts thefabric from the five and a half inch machine to a diameter equal to thatof fabric made upon the three and a half inch machine.

The approximate circumference of the three and ribber may be varied andstill be used withthe 'tensioned rubber to contract the fabric to the,

smaller diameter.

In Fig. 3 I have shown in diagrammatic detail the cylinder stitches 9and ill and the dial stitches H and I2 as they are when on the machinewith the tensioned rubber 3 laid between the stitches, It will be seenthat the extent of yarn extending from the cylinder stitch 9 to theadjacent dial stitch H is of greater than usual length due to thegreater spacing between the needles. In Fig. 4 is shown the same-fabricafter it comes ofi the machine and it will be seen that the fabric hascontracted considerably. It will be noted that the thickness of the theexcess fabric to the loose course.

fabric in Fig. 4 due to the contraction from a large to a small diameteris greater than the thickness of the fabric in Fig. 3.

I have disclosed the use of a three feed machine with the rubber everythird course, but obviously a machine with the rubber spaced apart by adifferent plurality of courses may be used. The machine may have two,four or even five feeds with the rubber inlaid at one ormore spacedapart feeds.

As usual the rib top is transferred to the needles of a plain machine orfooter to make the leg and foot 'of the stocking. This is done bytransferring the loose course of the rib top to the needles of thefooter and then ravelling back Since the rubber yarn extends through andbeyond the loose course, this also is removed during the ravelling andthe loose end thereof may be allowed to draw back into the fabric to, beheld solely by and between the cylinder and dial Wales and therebyanchored in the fabric at the point 5, in the course next adjacent theloose course.

Instead of locking in the ends of the rubber in the welt and in thefirst course from the loose course, the ends of the rubber may terminatebelow the welt and above the loose course, say a course or two beforethe welt and the loose course. In'this event the ends of the rubber willbe anchored by inter-knitting with the fabric for a few stitches bymeans well known to the trade.

It will be apparent that I have provided novel means and method ofmaking the novel top for hosiery and that the invention may be modifiedor changed without departing from the scope of the same as expressed inthe claim.

I claim:

The method of knitting a tubular stocking having a rib top and a plainleg, the rib top approximating in diameter the diameterof a rib top asnormally made upon a certain diameter machine having a certain number ofneedles, including the step of knitting upon a plurality of feeds uponalarger diameter machine having the same certain number of needles toknit the courses of said top of separate yarns in regular and repeatingsequence, the step of feeding rubber .yarn under tension to said largerdiameter machine at only one of the feeds thereof for incorporationunknit between the plain and'r'lb wales in the courses knit of one ofsaid yarns substantially throughout the top, the tensioned rubber yarncontracting the rib fabric as it comes off the larger diameter machineto the desired diameter, the step of transferring said rib top to aplain machine of smaller diameter than said larger. diameter machine andhaving the same certain number of needles and the step of knitting theplain leg. v

r RQBERT E. DAVIS;

